There is a widespread New Age belief that our thoughts create our diseases, i.e.that we are responsible for everything that happens to us.
It is said by some that ‘resentment causes cancer, oppression is something we bring on ourselves, and even, for some teachers of this school of thought, poverty. Everything – ‘good’ or ‘bad’ results from our thoughts, and thinking a certain way will guarantee certain results.’ For instance, Rhonda Byrne, whose bestseller The Secret has probably improved the lives of millions around the planet, writes the following extremely risky generalization in her recent book The Power: ‘Without exception, every single time you experienced something good in your life, you loved and harnessed love’s positive force. And every single time you experienced something not good, you didn’t love, and the result was negativity.’ (Underscoring mine).
What about those hardened sinners who swear, drink and damn the world and live in perfect health till well in their nineties? And what about Roger McGowen, whose amazing saga is described in the recently published Cygnus book, Messages of Life from Death Row, who out of the purest unconditional love for his brother Charles took the rap for him – and as a result ended on death row, where he is now starting his 24th year of incarceration?
There are many causes
I believe this kind of thinking brings on immense suffering and a searing guilt to countless people and is sometimes the expression not only of a complete misunderstanding of the complexity of the world and causal processes, but can be the expression of a deep lack of compassion. It is often related to a rather simplistic view of karma, i.e. that what I reap in this life is the result of mistakes made in earlier lives. In one of his many remarkable books, Grace and Grit, Ken Wilbur quotes a leading master of Dzogchen Buddhism, Namkhai Norbu, who explains that ‘There are illnesses produced due to karma, or the previous conditions of the individual. But there are also illnesses generated that come from others, from the outside. And there are illnesses that are provoked by provisional causes, such as food or other combinations of circumstances. And there are illnesses generated by accident. There are all kinds of illnesses linked with the environment.’
Wilbur comments that this belief can even be dangerous, in that it diverts attention away from the numerous other causes of disease and social pathologies in general.
Have the thoughts of the plantation workers in Latin America who have been sprayed with pesticides or work in pesticide-laden plantations and drink pesticide infected water caused their lethal lung and skin problems and many others? Is the dramatically poor health of the 7-8 year old children working in the silver mines of Bolivia 10 hours a day, who eat deplorable food in inadequate quantities, due to their thinking?
Has the three month old baby in another part of the Third World who contracted AIDS because she was raped by a gang of adults who believed that having sex with a virgin heals one of AIDS – a very widespread belief in that region and which does countless harm – caused her ailment? I could easily cover page after page of similar dramatic examples which completely belie this simplistic New Age vision.
What disturbs me in the writing of even leading New Age proponents, some of whom I admire deeply, is their total disregard of the social, environmental and political consequences of this thinking. It too often tends to reinforce a sort of narcissistic concern for one’s own well being and to foster disinterest in the collective dimensions of living together on a small planet. Proponents of this thinking too easily become essentially centred on their own narrow lives and forget that at another level we are all one. I am that child in the silver mine, I am that child who has been raped.
Rather than quote some great mystic on this essential point, here is what Roger McGowen wrote to a friend: ‘We are all one. We could not exist alone, and yes, I do need the smiles of the orphans. They make everything we do in the name of humanity worth every pain we have. It is such a shame that so many children are orphaned in the world. But they do not suffer their fate alone. As long as there are people who are willing to go that extra mile to show their love, then we all have something to rejoice about.’
Going the extra mile
Are you ready to go that extra mile, friend? Do you realize that the seven-year old who is working at in that silver mine is you? That it is you who has just been raped? And can you visualize that, not only with no sense of guilt whatsoever (that really would be the last straw), but with the understanding that by lifting those children up to the Source in your own thoughts, you can truly help them, you can become a world healer? In my book on the Gentle Art of Blessing I tell the extraordinary story of this spiritual healer who, by seeing a band of ethnic killers who had come to wipe out his whole family as expressions of divine Love (yes !) totally neutralized them and they left a couple of hours later, totally transformed. So whether you have a serious kidney problem or cancer is relatively unimportant compared to your ability to become a healer upflifting the planet.
Roger added in his letter to his friend. ‘Your freedom aids mine.’ What an amazing statement. Freeing ourselves from all our little selfish concerns, allowing our hearts to be penetrated by a deep compassion for the world, yearning with all our strength and vision for a world that works for all – that can take us far. And one day it will.
Much love to you all, Pierre
A weekend retreat with Pierre in Derbyshire, May 2011 – see http://www.cygnus-books.co.uk/pierre-pradervand-workshop.html for more details
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Wise word indeed. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and shedding light on some of the misperceptions out there. A star article in my opinion! Thank you!
Thank you for this article. Those words needed to be said and you did so beautifully!
Thank you Pierre Pradervand for sharing your thoughts and wisdom. They are ve..ry helpful. I love your book Gentle Art of Blessing.
I have read many times with great sadness of the imprisonment of Roger McGowan in your articles and feel compelled to write to you. Could we not, as like minded, spiritual and compassionate people who subscribe to the Cygnus Magazine, who are many, start a campaign to try and get Roger McGowan a retrial. I am sure you are doing and have done all you can to obtain this result, but am just making a suggestions which may not have been thought of. Sent in love and compassion. Hilary Norris
A balanced and well thought out rationale coming from a deep true place-the human heart. Thank you for sharing and opening the channel for open discussion that all systems whether physical social emotional or political are inextricable linked.
I read your comments regarding the apparent simplicity inferred by The Secret with enormous relief, as they are mine entirely. Thank you so much for the wisdom and clarity in your article and for giving us a much broader vision. I trust as many people read this article as read The Secret.
Yes, having read the Secret and applied its teachings for a while, some really strange things happened to me. On reflection, I see now it was the law of attraction working, as the intent when using the Secret isn’t always in tune with the Highest Good. The intents of compassion, generosity and love are more important. Thank you Pierre for your illuminating article.
Working in Northern India for many years, alongside a Priest who moved mountains for the leprosy villagers with his selfless love for them. Under his guidance an orphanage was built, a school and eventually a hospital. No-one could have had a better role model, witnessing as I did what can be achieved, when as Pierre Pradervand says ‘We free ourselves from all our own selfish concerns.’ Later I met a woman who had been helping those suffering from this disease for over thirty years. She was old by the time I visited her and legless. But happiness and loved poured from her.
Thank you so much! You have lifted a burden from me.
Bless you, Pierre.
Thankyou so very much. I guess (by the sound of it) like others I was in a place of confusion dare I say as I’d got The Secret, read it, applied it, but I couldn’t understand why aspects of my life were not coming right still, I couldnt understand why cancer was still present, still eating away, I couldn’t work that bit out.
I’d done the gratitiude til it was coming out of my ears, I’d made friends (if you can; and truly to this day I wonder if I really did) with cancer, I’d done everything that I knew how to do and I was, am still broken. When speaking to spiritual friends and teachers, asking them the question, the reply would be “ah but you’re not being grateful enough” 0r “you’re working from a place of desperation” or ” you can’t be doing it right”. I never really got it and thought then that I’d created the cancer, I’d created my illness through thought as this is what other spiritual books and teachers/people were telliing me. I guess until today, I came to a point where I don’t know who I am, what I am and why this has happened. I’d packed away my spiritual books as they (in my eyes) are full of blame for what I had created for myself.
I’ve no idea why I didn’t cancel my Cygnus newsletter, I’ve not looked at anything remotley spiritual for a few months now, so I’ve no idea why I opened the email, why I came onto the site.. until I saw your post. Thankyou my friend, you have given me some hope and have removed guilt and blame. Thankyou a million times over.
Blessings x
What a lovely article, I believe the “secret” has a place if applied with compassion and love.
However until your mind set is in the correct place, wherever that may be, I believe with meditation on allowing love to heal, which it will eventually when the time is right you will attract all that you desire, if applied with love and compassion. You have to be prepared to grow and learn.
I have had cancer and thankfully have been clear now for several years, for some time though I did think I had caused it, I had been a terrible person and got what I deserved, but upon meditation and looking at the bigger picture I became aware of terrible misdoings that had been put upon me as a child and for most of my life to that point I had in fact been sweeping life under the carpet, living in denial. Facing up to the cruelties bestowed upon me was probably the hardest thing I have done in my life, but also the most rewarding……..I have found joy in my life
Love and blessings.
Having read The Secret I did find it ‘ignored the plight of a whole section of our world and this made me uneasy with the book BUT then I read’ The Power’ and in this Rhonda Byrne is more in line with all great teachers ..instead of getting what YOU want she encourages us to simply be in tune with LOVE . By being angry about the plight of others ( as I felt Pierre seemed to be in his article ) or angry with ourselves we remove ourselves from the place we should be . By feeling LOVE for ourselves and our lives we naturally find compassion and empathy is enhanced and we feel empowered to help others. First heal thyself . Love and Blessings